A British start-up wanted to turning fictional superpowers into reality - so invented an invisibility shield.

The company, London-based Invisibility Shield Co., have now launched a 6ft tall 'megashield', as well as portable roll-up versions which can hide people and objects completely from view in broad daylight.

The team, who launched a Kickstarter funder on Tuesday (26 Mar), say they spent four years developing and testing optical cloaking technology to create their latest shields.

Invisibility Shield designer Tristan Thompson says: "The possibilities are endless but most important of all, these shields are great fun, they’re fun to play around with and exciting for us to make."

"We wanted to see how far we could push this technology. A real working invisibility shield that you can just roll up and sling over your shoulder? Two years ago nobody thought anyone could do that."

The shields work thanks to the use of ultra-large precision engineered lens arrays. These arrays, which form the face of each shield, redirect light that reflects off the person standing behind the shield, away from the observer on the other side.

The shape and placement of these lenses then causes background light from either side of the shields to spread over the shield’s face and be directed towards the observer instead, effectively cloaking whatever is behind.

The two largest models feature ergonomic handles which allow the user to carry the shield whilst keeping their body in the optimum position to remain invisible. The rigid frame means the shields are also freestanding, allowing the user to disappear behind at any distance.

The firm say: "The new shields have also been designed with convenience in mind and can pack down as small as 1/30th of their assembled size, allowing people to easily take them anywhere they want to disappear."

Three sizes are available; the £54 'Mini' at 8 inches tall, the £329 'Full size' at 3ft tall and the team’s largest ever shield, the £769 'Megashield' which stands over 6ft tall, which they say is "big enough to hide multiple people standing side by side"."

Each unit is fully waterproof, does not require batteries and is constructed from 100% recyclable materials.